Tag: Still

Snape Maltings is known as a major concert venue in Suffolk but part of its appeal to me is what lays behind the old buildings heading along the river towards the sea. The reed beds along the Alde wind away from the Maltings past Iken and on towards Aldeburgh.

The reeds change with the breeze, the time of day and the hue of the light. Changing light morphs the reeds from almost grey under a cloudy sky to a golden orange in the low sun at the beginning and end of the day. But in the hour after the sun has set, lit by the glow of the moon high in the sky, they look different again, taking on a ghostly appearance as they sway in the breeze.

I didn’t notice to start with. I’d been further along the river capturing a more conventional sunset but on my way back to the Maltings I spotted a curved stand of reeds in the river standing above the river at high tide. I stopped for a moment and watched. Stars and planets coming out of the clear sky and the moon glowing brightly above me. Time to unpack the camera once more. Long exposures as night took hold once again.

I’m glad I stopped and looked…

My time amongst the reeds on the River Alde is part of a journey north along the Suffolk coast from Languard Point at the southernmost tip to its border with Norfolk. Along the way I’ll be exploring, recording what I find and then sharing. You can follow me on my journey by adding my blog to your feed, Liking my Facebook page, Circling me on Google+ or following me on Twitter.

I sometimes get asked if some of of the images that I create are either paintings or if they’ve been photoshopped. The answer is an absolute no to the first question and a 99% chance of a no to the second. I’d rather be out in the landscape than sat in front of a computer spending time in Photoshop.

Those who follow Hennell James Photography on Facebook will have seen that I often post an image taken on my phone when I’m on location. It’s often a little later that I follow up a blog post and an image from my camera, taken at the same time, but with quite a different look.

Here is an image taken with my phone a moment after the one above that was taken with my DSLR camera.

The image from my phone is just a snapshot of what is in front of me, just a quick edit, nothing complicated. The image from my camera is much more how I see what is in front of me. Again very little editing, just a few tweaks to contrast and saturation in Adobe Lightroom.

The images were made at Iken Cliffs on the River Alde between Snape and Aldeburgh. Similar composition, similar colours but to me a subtle but different feeling to each.

The morning was quiet, no traffic, a few birds in the dawn chorus and only the slightest breeze. Calm and tranquil and that’s the feeling I wanted to convey in my final image. How did I do it? Taking advantage of the darkness and with a neutral density filter (if you’re not sure what that is think of the effect of a pair of sunglasses) I used a longer shutter speed on my DSLR to give the clouds and the ripples on the river surface time to move and blur whilst everything else was still.

Small things can make a big difference…

My time at Iken Cliffs is part of a journey north along the Suffolk coast from Languard Point at the southernmost tip to its border with Norfolk. Along the way I’ll be exploring, recording what I find and then sharing. You can follow me on my journey by adding my blog to your feed, Liking my Facebook page, Circling me on Google+ or following me on Twitter.

One of the prominent features on Orford Ness, for now at least, is the lighthouse that stands on the beach overlooking the North Sea. The current lighthouse has stood there protecting shipping since 1792, but its days are numbered. Decommissioned in 2013, the beach protecting it from the sea is disappearing with each winter storm that passes and soon it may fall, like the town of Dunwich, into the sea.

Viewed from further south the lighthouse stands tall between buildings with a more sinister past. Further north along the River Ore, somewhere close to where it becomes the River Alde, the lighthouse is almost alone in the barren open space of Orford Ness. From a distance across the river and the shingle landscape, even a long lens would not have brought the lighthouse close enough. Being closer would have shown it to be large and strong. The wider view, setting it in open the landscape of brooding clouds shows a more fragile perspective, even a large building of rock and stone will succumb to the power of the sea!

My time opposite the lighthouse on Orford Ness is part of a journey north along the Suffolk coast from Languard Point at the southernmost tip to its border with Norfolk. Along the way I’ll be exploring, recording what I find and then sharing. You can follow me on my journey by adding my blog to your feed, Liking my Facebook page, Circling me on Google+ or following me on Twitter.

It can be frustrating when you know there is something to photograph in a place but you just can’t find it. This is just what happened to me at Felixstowe Ferry. I think the Ferry comes from the small boat that takes passengers (and sometimes their bikes) across the River Deben, a different kind of ferry to the ones that have taken passengers across the North Sea to Europe over the years. The Coast here is constantly being shaped by the North Sea and the shingle banks both on and near the shore move with the tides and the storms that come and go.

I arrived before dawn and took a look along the river where the small yachts are moored, protected from the sea. It was quiet but for the sea birds and the wind rattling the halyards on the yachts against their masts.

I wandered around for a while but didn’t find any inspiration until I came round the corner where the Deben heads into the sea between the shifting shingle banks. Posts and buoys mark the safe channel toward the North Sea.

Curves started to emerge in the shingle, shaped by the tides. I found symmetry in the shingle banks on the horizon, the single post standing tall and even the horizon splitting the frame equally the sea reflecting the sky.

It’s what I’d been seeking for a while. A combination of tide, weather and light all coming together at the right time.

My time on the shingle at Felixstowe Ferry is part of a journey north along the Suffolk coast from Languard Point at the southernmost tip to its border with Norfolk. Along the way I’ll be exploring and recording what I find and then sharing.